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Un‘Finn’ished business
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| Kari Halme, a senior lecturer at Laurea University of Applied Science in Helsinki, Finland, returns home today after a nine-day visit to Lake City Community College. This is Halme’s second visit to Lake City, teaching Dr. Sheri Carder’s business classes while she taught his class in Finland. JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter |
Finnish professor discusses culture in his native country.
By MICHAEL MITSEFF
mmitseff@lakecityreporter.com
Finnish university professor and senior lecturer Kari Halme returned to Lake City and to the campus of Lake City Community College on Nov. 14 for a nine-day visit with colleagues. He leaves for home today.
It was from 2005-2006 that Halme and his family moved to Lake City where he taught the business classes of LCCC professor Sheri Carder, Ph.D., who had flown to Helsinki to teach business classes there.
On this short visit, Halme looked up friends he had made in the community and to visit what he considers his second home.
“This is a great country and I have acquired some really good relationships here with my colleagues over here,” Halme said.
Great country yes, but Halme does see some disturbing differences between our two countries even though “Finland is considered the most Americanized country in Europe,” he said.
When he was living and teaching here one of his chief concerns was with the safety of his children and the higher levels of crime in the U.S. compared to Finland.
Although the crime rate in Finland is low compared to the U.S. and most European countries, it has increased in recent years. Finland also has one of the lowest numbers of police of any European nation, outside of key sites in major urban centers, according to CIA World Factbook Web site.
Halme had some definite ideas as to why the crime rate in America was so high and so low in Finland.
“Let’s start with diversity, 99 percent of the population has been raised in Finland, so there is no racial diversity practiced,” he said, noting that the emphasis on ethnic diversity in America may account for some of the crime.
Halme also said he believes that in addition to ethnic diversity, America’s crime rate could also be blamed on our economic class structure.
“There are no social classes in Finland and variations of income are very, very limited,” he said. “Janitors in Finland earn almost as much as college professors and professors make almost as much as business owners.
“When there is a lot of equality, I’d say it supports peace.”
Halme said that the third factor that shapes the incidence of crime in America is simply our “tradition of violence and guns.”
Notwithstanding the differences in crime rates, Halme said that he still loves it here.
“I would love to come back to Lake City, it is like a second home to me now.”
Halme said that in his country he cannot get American-style biscuits. His favorite places to get biscuits were Popeyes and Red Lobster.
“Their biscuits were excellent,” he said.
Though he loves American biscuits, bread is another matter altogether.
“American bread is really poor because it’s so fluffy and there no fiber in it.”
The bread in Finland is very dark and contains very little yeast.
“It has the consistency of recycled cereal boxes,” Carder said, noting that it a loaf of bread in Finland could be used as hockey puck.
It’s bread notwithstanding, Finland is a highly developed democracy with a modern economy who has been a member of the European Union since 1999.
Finland also manufactures Nokia cellular telephones and has captured about 40 percent of the global market.
“Eighty-five percent of Finns own a Nokia cell phone,” Carder said.
Finland is slightly smaller than Montana and is bordered on the north by Norway, Sweden to its west and Russia to its east. To its south across the Gulf of Finland lies Estonia. It gained its independence from Russia on Dec. 6, 1917.
Finland’s climate ranges from cold to subarctic but it is somewhat moderated by the North Atlantic Current, the Baltic Sea and its more than 60,000 lakes, according to the CIA World Factbook Web site.
It’s population is slightly more than 5 million as of July 2008 estimates. Fewer than 1,500 Finns were living with AIDS and only 100 had died from the disease, based on estimates in 2003.
Finland approaches education differently too.
“Up until eighth grade, the education is about the same here as it is in Finland,” he said. “In Finland after eighth grade, the student can either choose high school or vocational school where you study to be plumber or carpenter or a nurses aide, those kinds of jobs.”
Students who choose the vocational path may change their mind and instead opt to continue their education in university, Halme said, noting that it is a sort of safety valve.
“There are quotas for applicants from vocational schools, but less that 1 percent of university students came from vocational school,” he said.
In high school, students study subjects such as math, science and lots of languages, subjects that are considered here to be courses taken in college.
University students only take classes that are considered in this country as major subjects, all the required subjects were already taken and passed in high school.
Though from Finland, Halme is intrigued with Americana.
“We took a pilgrimage to Memphis, it was really interesting, fascinating, fabulous,” Halme said. I’m not such a big fan but Elvis is a true American icon, he is a true piece of American culture.”
It was from 2005-2006 that Halme and his family moved to Lake City where he taught the business classes of LCCC professor Sheri Carder, Ph.D., who had flown to Helsinki to teach business classes there.
On this short visit, Halme looked up friends he had made in the community and to visit what he considers his second home.
“This is a great country and I have acquired some really good relationships here with my colleagues over here,” Halme said.
Great country yes, but Halme does see some disturbing differences between our two countries even though “Finland is considered the most Americanized country in Europe,” he said.
When he was living and teaching here one of his chief concerns was with the safety of his children and the higher levels of crime in the U.S. compared to Finland.
Although the crime rate in Finland is low compared to the U.S. and most European countries, it has increased in recent years. Finland also has one of the lowest numbers of police of any European nation, outside of key sites in major urban centers, according to CIA World Factbook Web site.
Halme had some definite ideas as to why the crime rate in America was so high and so low in Finland.
“Let’s start with diversity, 99 percent of the population has been raised in Finland, so there is no racial diversity practiced,” he said, noting that the emphasis on ethnic diversity in America may account for some of the crime.
Halme also said he believes that in addition to ethnic diversity, America’s crime rate could also be blamed on our economic class structure.
“There are no social classes in Finland and variations of income are very, very limited,” he said. “Janitors in Finland earn almost as much as college professors and professors make almost as much as business owners.
“When there is a lot of equality, I’d say it supports peace.”
Halme said that the third factor that shapes the incidence of crime in America is simply our “tradition of violence and guns.”
Notwithstanding the differences in crime rates, Halme said that he still loves it here.
“I would love to come back to Lake City, it is like a second home to me now.”
Halme said that in his country he cannot get American-style biscuits. His favorite places to get biscuits were Popeyes and Red Lobster.
“Their biscuits were excellent,” he said.
Though he loves American biscuits, bread is another matter altogether.
“American bread is really poor because it’s so fluffy and there no fiber in it.”
The bread in Finland is very dark and contains very little yeast.
“It has the consistency of recycled cereal boxes,” Carder said, noting that it a loaf of bread in Finland could be used as hockey puck.
It’s bread notwithstanding, Finland is a highly developed democracy with a modern economy who has been a member of the European Union since 1999.
Finland also manufactures Nokia cellular telephones and has captured about 40 percent of the global market.
“Eighty-five percent of Finns own a Nokia cell phone,” Carder said.
Finland is slightly smaller than Montana and is bordered on the north by Norway, Sweden to its west and Russia to its east. To its south across the Gulf of Finland lies Estonia. It gained its independence from Russia on Dec. 6, 1917.
Finland’s climate ranges from cold to subarctic but it is somewhat moderated by the North Atlantic Current, the Baltic Sea and its more than 60,000 lakes, according to the CIA World Factbook Web site.
It’s population is slightly more than 5 million as of July 2008 estimates. Fewer than 1,500 Finns were living with AIDS and only 100 had died from the disease, based on estimates in 2003.
Finland approaches education differently too.
“Up until eighth grade, the education is about the same here as it is in Finland,” he said. “In Finland after eighth grade, the student can either choose high school or vocational school where you study to be plumber or carpenter or a nurses aide, those kinds of jobs.”
Students who choose the vocational path may change their mind and instead opt to continue their education in university, Halme said, noting that it is a sort of safety valve.
“There are quotas for applicants from vocational schools, but less that 1 percent of university students came from vocational school,” he said.
In high school, students study subjects such as math, science and lots of languages, subjects that are considered here to be courses taken in college.
University students only take classes that are considered in this country as major subjects, all the required subjects were already taken and passed in high school.
Though from Finland, Halme is intrigued with Americana.
“We took a pilgrimage to Memphis, it was really interesting, fascinating, fabulous,” Halme said. I’m not such a big fan but Elvis is a true American icon, he is a true piece of American culture.”
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John Michael wrote on Nov 24, 2008 4:34 PM: